About Me

Manu Sharma New Delhi / Gurgaon, India

Since mid 2006 I have grappled with climate change and what it means for us. As an activist and campaigner, I sought to learn and simultaneously, attempted to influence the issues surrounding it - in technology and policy advocacy. As a consultant, I studied markets and created portfolios in sustainability services and renewable energy investment.

After thousands of hours of research, tenacious activism, working up-close with NGOs as well as the industry, delivering about two dozen public talks, countless conferences, hundreds of online discussions, a few media appearances (including Reuters, News Television, and BBC radio), and continuous evolution of my own ideas about what ought to be done - I may have found some answers but the issue remains far from being addressed.

In the despair filled world of climate change the only place I've found real and lasting hope is in a beautiful vision inspired by "The Ringing Cedars of Russia" book series by Vladimir Megre. The books have triggered a transition movement in Russia and have profoundly influenced me. I am now working towards the vision.

Climate Revolution Initiative, an RTI campaign I founded and ran for a few years is now retired. I no longer deliver talks. I still consider myself an activist though and occasionally post on Green-India group started over nine years ago.

Older entries in this blog relate to my former occupation in user experience design; long time interest in business innovation, strategy, ethics; and venture creation.

Image on top of this bar is courtesy book covers of The Ringing Cedars series published under Croatian translation. (Source)

March 12, 2006

Gaurav Bhatnagar links to OnYoMo, a mapping web application. It's pretty cool because it has Google Maps like Ajax interface for panning the map (even supports keyboard input). However, currently it's a bit limited in functionality. There are only two levels of zoom and no way to link to a location. Basically an Ajaxian interface slapped over scanned jpegs of popular Eicher city map.

That said, I found Onyomo still useful despite these limitations. MapMyIndia.com for example, has much more data and far greater level of zooming, detail and tons of features. However, it's also extremely slow because the page refreshes everytime one has to zoom or pan. Onyomo also has the advantage of using mapping data of an excellent source.

There's a dearth of good mapping applications for India basically because there's lack of good mapping data. Google Maps doesn't have street level maps of India (only satellite imagery of a few big cities). It's also difficult to find reliable GPS data. Recent initiatives by the Indian Goverment are set to change all that. In May last year Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched Cartosat-1, India's first mapping satellite. The 1560kg satellite will provide unique 3-dimensional "stereo satellite images" (compared to static images used in Google Maps) for the first time ever in the civilian world.

1 Comments so far

MapmyIndia v-2007 is just like Google Maps/Yahoo Maps. In fact, even better, MapmyIndia is focused on India. Visit www.mapmyindia.com today.

If you want to see your house on a map (the street actually), visit MapmyIndia (http://www.mapmyindia.com)

This is an Indian company's initiative at creating an internet map site that will come up and do as much as Google and Mapquest has done. We're also adding an Indian twist to the things we do. Check out this concept called 'eLocation' MapmyIndia has introduced.

eLocation allows you to get maps and directions to a peron's place, and the cool thing is that it gives you the directions in the words of that person (take a left after you see a panwallah, go inside that gate...u know, how people explani directions in India).

Search for this sample elocation and you'll see what I mean. The id is: mapmyindia

Looking forward to your comments on the blog or through mail (my email address is: shashi@mapmyindia.com)

Thanks and hope you can enjoy India in much much more detail =)Shashi Prakash (on behalf of the MapmyIndia team)